YouTube reaches 1.5 billion Shorts Users

Tech giants doing their utmost to invest in short form video to combat TikTok. Facebook and Instagram under Meta, and YouTube are now all in on the short form video format. Is it any wonder why the news that YouTube reaches 1.5 billion Shorts users is so unsurprising?

YouTube has revealed it has reached more than 1.5 billion monthly logged-in viewers of Shorts! An astounding feat to say the least. YouTube Shorts are Google’s answer to TikTok’s massive popularity when it comes to short-form videos.

A Short History

YouTube boasts itself to be the king of the multiformat creator, which is to say both long and short form content. Whereas platforms like Facebook and Instagram still frown upon longer video. However, with TikTok increasing their video time limit, the two social media giants have quickly followed suit.

TikTok is the fastest growing social platform in the world. The platform especially surged in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, Meta Platforms Inc. has dramatically redesigned Instagram to feature Reels, its TikTok copycat. This follows in the wake of YouTube unveiling Shorts.

With the popularity of the short form video format, YouTube has seen more users on Shorts than it’s main site. This is a pretty big deal, considering the fact that YouTube is the king of media and content creation/consumption.

Source: Kayana Creative

Platforms are continuing to put in more effort to bring new features to their short form video formats. Instagram recently unveiled being able to use effects, filters and stickers in Reels. These were initially only useable through Instagram Stories. Some would say this blurs the line between Stories and Reels, with no real difference left between them.

With people having more content and less time to consume it, short form video makes sense. Users rushing to TikTok bodes ill for Meta and Google. We wouldn’t be surprised if WhatsApp doesn’t move on from Stories and introduces a form of Reels for the platform!

Conclusion

With the news that YouTube reaches 1.5 billion Shorts users, we can bet that Meta has kicked things into overdrive. Not wanting to be left behind, expect a slew of new features coming to both Instagram/Facebook Reels to keep abreast with this new development!

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